The Emperor's Daughter
by Kamzil118
Summary: On the night Beacon would fall, Cinder learns that Salem was holding back her past as a griffon descended from the skies with the Emperor wielding Ghal Maraz.


Beacon was falling, its warriors were slowly losing ground to the Atlas mechs and the White Fang forces. However, the students would not give into defeat. A fierce resistance by the students was enough to tell Salem that she needed to change the playing field and it all began with Ozpin.

The woman stood high and tall from his tower, turning away from the fighting to see Cinder kneeling before her. "Very good, Cinder. Ozpin will never recover from this and you did a very fine job now be proud of yourself." Then Salem looked past the young lady and saw the silver-haired headmaster laying his back against his desk. "What a pity. The strength you show is undermined by forces you cannot understand and now you lay there, only to regret your decisions in life." She smiled at his weakened state.

Ozpin remained silent as Cinder rose from kneel and looked over to the older man's body.

"Cinder, finish him. It is about time Ozpin knows his fate."

While the young lady was loyal to her, she was taken aback by her order. "Are you sure?"

"I am very sure, I think it is about time we permanently get rid of our only obstacle finally." Salem replied as she placed her hands behind her back. She noticed that Cinder was expected to take a life, but she couldn't put her finger on getting rid of the man.

Then the headmaster spoke, but his words were directed at the Fall Maiden. "Tell me Cinder, do you truly know of your past?"

"Why are you asking this question?" Cinder said, fingertips lit with fire, as she slowly made her way towards him. "There is no point."

"There is a point." He answered. "While she promises power for you, do you really believe everything she says."

"You cannot delay the inevitable, so why talk?"

Ozpin smiled. "At a very young age, you were taken away from the care of your father. Sadly, Salem did not tell you the truth on who you are. Instead, she made you forget about a lineage that you don't know and if you kill me, your father will be disappointed."

Salem was disappointed, her apprentice was hesitation was giving up time. "Cinder, finish him now and be done with it. He's merely trying to trick you."

The young girl found herself stuck in a position she didn't ask for. She looked from her master and towards her enemy, not with hatred, but with confusion. "Is it true, did you take me away when I was a child?" Cinder asked the Grimm. "Why?"

Unsurprised, the woman shook her head. "It was none of your concern. Your father was a busy man and he paid for it when I took you away from him. You were going to be some daughter of some forgotten fool who would send you away when you were old enough. However, I knew you were more than some daughter of a simple oaf."

"Who was my father?" Cinder demanded.

A bird-like cry echoed from the clouds, catching the trio by surprise.

Looking up, Cinder saw a figure of a man descending from the clouds on a back of a bird-like beast. It flapped its wings as the rider screamed his battle cry as he was followed by a dozen more. "For Sigmar!"

Then Ozpin spoke. "Your father is here."

When the creature arrived at the tower, Cinder was taken aback by the armored figure, whose armor clad in gold as he dismounted the creature. His face was hidden away by his helmet as he walked towards the white-skinned woman. "I have come for your head, witch."

Despite of his threat, Salem remained unafraid of his arrival. "Spare me your grievances, my dear emperor. You wouldn't care about your daughter unless she was corrupted by those dark gods."

"Who are you?" Cinder Fall asked.

The armored man turned his gaze towards the lady before he raised his visor above his face. "My name is Karl Franz, Emperor of the Empire of Man and your father." He explained. Then he turned his head to the headmaster. "Ozpin, I understand that you have seen better days."

"Shall we get this over with this or what?" Salem complained as she caught the man's attention.

"Very well." He said walking forward towards the woman.

She smiled as a black sword was summoned into her hands out of nothing, but darkness. "Now tell me, Emperor, do you really believe you can defeat me." The woman taunted. "I am the darkness that covers the world, the monster underneath children's' beds and the nightmare in their dreams."

The Emperor's free hand reached towards his belt as he drew a sword from its sheathe. "While you are the shadows, I am the Defier of the Dark. Now we fight." With Ghal Maraz in one hand and the Runefang of Reikland in the other, the Emperor and the Witch dueled for the sake of Beacon.

While Salem was agile and quick, Karl Franz was ferocious and precise. Their blades clashed as the Emperor swung his Warhammer with a disciplined hand. However, the Grimm woman found this as an opportunity to reach her sword out to him and touch his armor. It was a mere scratch, but the Emperor was still cautious.

The two remained standing, each not willing to back down from this fight, but Karl showed signs of weariness underneath his armor.

The woman smiled as her lunged forth with inhuman speed and her sword reaching out to the Prince and Emperor. Although the man could not parry the attack, there was a factor which Salem did not count.

Flames erupted from the ground as the Grimm woman dropped to her knees. She screamed in agony as the flames burned away. "You will not harm him." It was from Cinder's voice.

Salem looked to her former apprentice and saw where her loyalties lied. "You weak-willed fool. I trained you to become better than this."

However, Ghal Maraz had spoken. The hammer knocked Salem back unleashing a scream from the image of a corrupted human. "You dare to turn a fraction of a bloodline into a monster, my daughter." Karl emphasized on his daughter as he took a step closer to the woman lying on the ground. "Now you will answer for your trespasses."

"What will you do? Kill me in front of your daughter?" It was here that she angered the leader.

"Yes." He replied as he brought down the hammer onto the woman. Then he repeated each strike to be violent, but controlled. With every smash the woman found herself being smashed out of existence one hit at a time.

After he was finished, he breathed hard as the Emperor looked down at the remains of her broken body. Salem wheezed for air as she slowly broke down just like her own creatures. There was no effort to speak and there was nothing she could do about it.

Emperor Karl Franz turned away from the fallen as he sheathed his Runefang. His gaze was tired, but it brought a smile upon his face when he saw his daughter standing before him. "You've grown since you were a child. How strange that I was not there for you when you were taken." His voice was saddened when he spoke of those events.

Then Ozpin spoke up. "Karl, it's not your fault."

Cinder stood there and was surprised to see her former foe talking to him. "You two know each other?"

"Of course, I was the one who told him that you were coming here."

"You knew of my plan all along? How? I made sure it was full proof."

Then Karl spoke. "You have your mother's mind and I know her too well to know you." The armored Emperor extended his arms out. "Now give your father a proper welcome, it's long overdue."


End file.
